With Sanity now safely back in her berth at the marina, I can reflect on the events of the past week.
Friday 20th June
Although it was an early, start we left Farndon on Friday 20th June fresh with excitement and cruised down river operating Town lock and Nether lock ourselves. We made it through the low bridges and reached Cromwell Lock on schedule to pen down onto the tidal Trent.
Cromwell lock to Gainsborough was a lovely cruise, we had plenty of water and managed a few bursts (while not upsetting the fishermen), I didn’t exceed 20 knots ... promise! Even the known shallow areas were no problem today. The sun was shining, a lovely start to our 10 day cruise.
A bite to eat in Gainsbough and then we slipped the BW mooring and headed for the Humber. Low tide made this stretch very interesting, good job we had the ABP charts from Keadby to the Humber, very shallow, came to a halt once but no real issues (apart from helping a following cruiser who managed to get his strainers full of sand and was overheating).
With time against us we resigned ourselves to the fact that reaching Grimsby before HW + 2 was unlikely so we headed for Hull Marina for the night. The visitor pontoons were pretty full, and as we are over 47 feet long (with davits extended) we were lucky to get a vacant berth right opposite the entrance. No shore power available so the generator was kicked into action for the most important requirement ... boiling the kettle!
Saturday 21st June
We were off again, 0700hrs we were in the lock, back out onto the Humber for a blast down to Grimsby to re-fuel. (In and out during locking hours is always a gamble)
Full of fuel and the boat still clean, tidy and organised we just made it back out of the Fish Dock before the lock gate closed and we were off, destination Lowestoft!
The North Sea:
My Dad tells me that in his many years in the Navy he has, a couple of times seen the North Sea completely flat, not a ripple or wavelet in site! I have to say - I don’t believe him ;-)
Our planned passage took us a good 40 miles out to sea and then a simple plotted course Southeast then South to Lowestoft. After enduring 4 hours against the wind, and in a moderate sea, this was adjusted (not helped by our RYA Chart Plotter software failing on us, so it was back to the chart, regular position fixing and altering our heading to keep us on track). We headed back towards the coast to try and ease the pounding we were getting on just our second day! Lowestoft was a welcome site, although wind against tide on the harbour approach was a very uncomfortable ending to the passage.
We moored in Hamilton Dock, which has a new ABP marina and I must say, very well equipped with 50ft pontoon fingers and a great toilet/shower block.
Sunday 22nd June
Shipping forecast not good, Force 8 forecast therefore we were staying put. I think having the internet onboard can actually provide you with too much weather information - and a lot of it conflicting! Still, a nice relaxing day spent in the sun exploring Lowestoft town and the beach finishing with a meal and a few drinks onboard - ideal boating ;-)
Monday 23rd June
No rush today, Lowestoft Harbour is accessible 24hrs and we needed to fuel at the Yacht Club before we could commence our passage. In went 470 litres of diesel at 88p a litre!!! and we set off for Ramsgate. The wind had died down so we made good progress on another beautiful sunny day, even made it onto the fly bridge for a bit of sunbathing.
We have a little issue with the fresh water cooling on the starboard engine which we were already aware of but were hoping with a good long run this would ease - not so. Plenty of sea water passing through our clean strainers and we are not aware of any impellor damage but still if the revs are pushed up to 2400 (recommended cruising revs) then it overheats! So this was a little restricting, sitting at between 1900 and 2000 revs against the wind we were not able to get Sanity on to the plane. We pushed on and although hampered by the tide against us in the final leg of the passage we made it to Ramsgate in 8 hours.
Ramsgate is a lovely harbour; the water was still and glistening, although we moored in the furthest most point from the shower block!
To celebrate a successful passage we had Fish and Chips on the beach and a stroll round the marina to end an almost perfect day.
Tuesday 24th June
Another beautiful day started with a run in the morning, a walk to the shower block to freshen up and breakfast in the open cockpit.
We were informed that we would need to be away from our berth between 1300hrs and 1400hrs as there was a large replica tall ship frigate arriving which required all of the pontoon we were currently alongside, so I assured the nice marina man that we would be leaving before then - that was the plan anyway.
Just before 1300hrs we heard the Skipper of the frigate calling Port Control requesting entrance ASAP, he had been waiting for sufficient water in the harbour, but the Met Office had just predicted an increase in the wind! He had his clearance which put us on immediate alert and all systems go. As we were not prepared to depart the harbour we decided to move to a berth on the other side of our pontoon. The wind picked up with cruel intent and our poor cold engines were raced as we swiftly slipped and proceeded round to our new berth, even with a shore party we struggled with the wind but finally made it safely alongside just as the frigate approached the pontoons.
After a period of watching the impressive tall ship activities we contemplated our next move. With the forecast looking windy we decided the best course of action would be to head North back to Lowestoft and try and avoid the ever increasing wind - Big mistake! The Easterly wind was sending rollers into the harbour but I was convinced that if we could make it out of the channel things would ease and we could cruise on up to Lowestoft. Port Control gave us permission to leave the harbour (although I am convinced he had a bet with himself that if we were heading North we’d be back) and we pressed on out of the harbour break water and into, what can only be described as, hell! - Big learning point here with regards to fenders - get them inboard while in the shelter of the harbour, or like us, you won’t get a chance!
Everything went flying, charts, crockery, fenders broke lose, creaks and groans as Sanity crashed and rolled into head on breakers, this is the only time I have been genuinely worried about our safety onboard. It didn’t take long before we were attempting a ‘Perfect Storm’ style about turn and heading back to the harbour. We hadn’t even reached the end of the channel and with an obvious sense of panic in my voice I requested entrance to the harbour from Port Control to which a response came "Certainly Sir, permission to re-enter, please come straight into Royal Harbour".
Back alongside and secure, and with a huge sense of relief, we assessed Sanity for damage and thankfully, nothing serious found. A few hours of reasonable shelter enabled me to undertake some maintenance, consisting of re-attaching fender socks and re-building the galley and saloon!
The Easterly winds continued and we spent the afternoon in the sun helping the very brave yachts and cruisers who were still entering the harbour (looking wet, miserable but also relieved) as they battled to get alongside.
Wednesday 25th June
Although the wind direction had changed back to a South Westerly, it was still unpleasant, and now pushing us off our pontoon, so we were alongside for another day.
The morning was ok but as the afternoon unfolded, the tide pushed in and the winds picked up, we now felt very exposed. All efforts to find an available, and more sheltered berth that we could move to had failed, so all the fenders were out and every rope we had was attached to all available cleats, but we were still bouncing! Only one thing for it, leave the boat and seek shelter from the wind in Ramsgate town.
Now decisions had to be made, we needed at least 3 days to get back to Farndon and that’s if the weather allowed it, so after the wind died down a little in the evening plans were made to depart Ramsgate at 0500hrs on Thursday and use the tide and the wind for a blast back to Lowestoft.
Thursday 26th June
Another sunny day! After a relatively calm night 0500hrs approached and at the top of the tide things were starting to get a bit bouncy in the harbour so we set off with our fingers crossed!
With my confidence shattered from our last attempt I was more than a little anxious as we started battling our way North in an uncomfortable sea but after a couple of hours things calmed down and with the tide (and our limited rev range) we averaged 15 knots to make it to Lowestoft in 6 hours - fantastic. With a great sense of achievement we stormed into the harbour and proceeded back to Hamilton Dock and were safe and secure alongside before midday.
A trip into Lowestoft followed by a meal and plenty of wine we retired knowing that an early start was out of the question as we needed fuel before we could leave.
Friday 257h June
Still sunny....and windy. Fuel was on the agenda so we slipped our berth at 1130hrs and proceeded to the fuel jetty in the yacht club (Final day of the yacht racing in Lowestoft so we only had a small window while the yachts were out playing).
Another 470 litres of diesel and I could hear on the radio that the first yachts were returning, so we made a dash back to our berth in Hamilton Dock.
After checking the tides for Lowestoft and the Humber (for entry into Grimsby Fish Dock) I decided on an early start for Saturday morning in a last attempt to get back to Farndon on Sunday. Afternoon spent sightseeing and then early to bed for a 0400hrs departure on Saturday morning.
Moored in the marina was a lovely Hardy 50’ straight out of the box and busy with a shake down week, also a Fairline 50’ and Princess 44’ making our old girl look quite inadequate...cuh.
Also for the duration of our second stay in Lowestoft there was a couple in a Fairline Phantom 43 who are undertaking a round Britain challenge to raise money for the RNLI. See www.round-britain.co.uk to follow their progress, we thought we had it bad, I can certainly relate to the captain’s blog!
Saturday 28th June
Very early start, not really awake but at 0405hrs I requested permission from Harbour Control to proceed to sea. The winds were still there, South Westerly/ Westerly but the first leg was reasonably comfortable. It didn’t last though, I knew the Wash was going to be choppy but with a Westerly wind and the meeting of 2 tidal streams it got very unpleasant. There’s no way to hug the coastline here and heading into the wind wouldn’t help so we just had to grit our teeth and go for it. We took a pounding and had to keep adjusting our heading slightly to avoid the constant banging as the bows soared up into the air and then came crashing back down. Again we were without our RYA Chart Plotter software as for some reason you need the CD in the drive to run it and the CD Rom drive had given up - so back to the chart (trying to stay at the chart table was a challenge in itself) fixing our position and providing heading adjustments. Luckily my bespoke Vessel Management application has a GPS reader embedded in it so our GPS Heading, Lat, Long and Speed were available which made life a lot easier. 11 knots was all we had in this sea so it was a 10 hour trip finishing with wind against tide at 8 knots in the final leg to Grimsby. More Fuel!!! We topped up at Grimsby as their fuel is considerably cheaper (sorry, less expensive) than anywhere on the Trent.
Just before 1500hrs we left Grimsby before the lock gate closed and struggled against the tide upstream past Hull and then under the Humber bridge. Now the fun began, already tired from our long trip out at sea we were committed to cruising to Gainsborough for a berth for the night. We were losing water fast, nearing the entrance to the Trent we were down to 6/7 feet under the keel and were feeling a little apprehensive about our passage down to Keadby on a falling tide (if we went aground, we’d be stuck for the night!)
Cruising at between 3 and 5 knots we carefully made our way down to Keadby using the ABP charts to plot a course through the less shallow water. Due to our slow progress we were now fighting with the remaining daylight and before we knew it, it was dark. 2 hours in darkness with no water while tired and drained, we finally made it to Gainsborough, and with one hand on the throttles and the other holding a 500w searchlight I headed for the jetty and we secured alongside the BW mooring at 0030hrs Sunday morning.
Sunday 29th June
In an attempt to have more water under the keel we left Gainsborough at 0600hrs Sunday morning. I had calculated the HW at Cromwell to be 0800hrs and that was indeed correct but unfortunately on Neaps that really doesn’t help as the rise and fall in the tide is only inches - learning point: Always make sure this leg is done on Springs.
Another arduous passage with no water (even following the Trent charts and recommended course) we manage to touch the bottom on more than one occasion, even in the deeper water round the bends - according to our charts!
4.5 hours to Cromwell, painfully slow, but while chatting with the lock keeper about the lack of water he confirmed there had been a number of groundings while we had been away, so relief again when we were moored up top side of the lock.
Tired and weary I was hoping to fill up with water but unfortunately we could not moor near enough to the tap and our hose did not quite reach. I also wanted to have a quick shower and freshen up (didn’t want to use the shower onboard to try conserve water) but the BW Shower was out of use - typical!
So we pressed on upstream to Nether lock and then to Newark, there was a gusty wind so we flew under Town Bridge (still amazes me how we fit under there) and into Town Lock to be joined in the lock by the Newark Cruise Boat - that was a tight squeeze! Out of the lock, another low bridge and then we were on the home stretch, and just as we approached the marina it started to rain and the wind picked up!
Berthing was interesting, tired skipper, tired crew, so I forced Sanity in stern first and although we had a little issue with ropes we were soon securely alongside. Shore power connected and the kettle was boiled for the first cuppa of the day.
Now I feel like I need a proper holiday, but in all fairness Sanity did us proud, she can clearly cope with much more than her owners (and crew) but apart from a few known, and additional minor problems she never let us down. I would do it all again tomorrow :-)
I read an article in Practical Boat Owner while we were away that was weighing up the pros and cons of getting your boat down to the South coast by sea, or on the back of a lorry. At first I thought "where’s the fun in that" but after our unsuccessful attempt at reaching the South coast I would probably now consider that an option!
Skippers Report:
Fuel
Litres Cost
1767 £1688
Berthing Costs
£226
Water
2000ltrs approx
Cruising Engine Hours
68
Average Consumption
26 ltrs p/hour
In Summary
"There will inevitably be moments of tension, panic, instructions misunderstood or unclear (even between Father and Son), and without a doubt many comedy moments will occur while boating, but as long as the overriding fundamental factor is Safety, for yourselves, the vessel and others, then it's all just consequential and something you can laugh about after the event."
Till our next adventure
Sanity Out :-)